2014/12/14

We are currently in the month of December and GLAY Expo occurred about three months ago. Wow, that went by quick. On my journey to and during the event, I jotted down a few notes. This won't be a detailed entry on the concert, but many photos were taken, so I hope you enjoy!

September 20th

8:00

With time left to spare, I made it to Tokyo station to hop on the Tohoku Shinkansen to Sendai. I had arrived thirty minutes earlier and asked a station worker there where the platform for Sendai is. I guess I misunderstood the person and he was kind of rude when I asked him a second time, which annoyed me, but I was able to make it and that's all that counts, right?

10:20

Hello Sendai! I arrived at Shin Sendai station and it is a wonderful day! It's really sunny and bright outside. So thanks to the weather, the Expo is going to be even better! Not a cloud in the sky.

I chilled out at the Starbucks at the station before boarding on a much shorter train ride to Iwakiri station. Unfortunately, the venue is a 45 minute walk away from that station. Not looking forward to it, especially with the sun blazing. (Yes, I could take a taxi, but that would have been expensive.)

12:00 - 16:00

After the looooong, nearly 4km walk, I made it to the venue: Hitomebore Stadium Miyagi. There were staff members that stood along the walk route to make sure the fans were heading in the right direction. I kind of felt sorry for them because it was so hot outside.

WHOA! The amount of people that I saw at the stadium was just simply insane! It took forever for me to get around. I quickly took pictures of the tour truck and got in line for goods, which took me all of eternity to find the end of the line. I swear, it felt like I spent 20 minutes looking for the stupid "line ends here" sign. While in line, I had a better view of certain places, so I took the opportunity to take more photos.

It took me a little more than an hour to reach the front of the line.... only to see that 90% of the goods were SOLD OUT!

Damn. GLAYERS don't play.

I ended up buying only the pamphlet and the duffel bag. *sadness*

And my bad luck was only beginning...

With an extremely starving stomach, I got in line for kakigori and then got off after being on it for 30 minutes because the line didn't seem to be moving at all! I decided to get in line for some actual food and I was on it for about 90 minutes and still had a long way to go before reaching the front of the line. It was already about 15:30, concert begins at 16:30. Pissed and annoyed as hell, I got off the line. Had I known it would be like this, I would have gotten food at the convenience store on my way to the venue. Anyways, I decided to at least get some GLAY Glico since the line was surprisingly short.

With Glicos in hand, I headed up the hill to get a better view of all the fans littered around the stadium.

After taking the pictures, it was time to head into the stadium. Finding my seat was fairly easy.

Concert Notes

I absolutely love the guys' outfits! They all wore black, which were accented with white jackets. Forever stylish these guys are.

Takuro's somewhat long speech in English was just amazing. Those private lessons are truly paying off.

The Jiro vs. Hisashi segment was interesting. The video shown before it was hilarious!

Teru crying before singing "Bible" broke my heart.

During "Hashire Mirai" out LED watches lit up for the first time. It was pretty cool. It was also my first time hearing the song and it is absolute love.

Cried for the first time during "I'm Just in Love." It just happened and it caught me by surprise. I can't remember if this is my first time hearing it live...

At the end of the show, before the encore, the LED watches lit up saying "GLAY EXPO." We then got a rather amazing fireworks display.

Sadly, I had to leave before the encore in order to make it to my Shinkansen ride back to Tokyo. I wasn't the only one in the same predicament as I saw others leaving as well.

Had to say goodbye to the LED watch. I quickly took a picture of it before giving it back to the staff.

The Glico contents. I bought two sets, which was the limit. I already ate the edible contents of one of them and that was only a month ago. I really had a wonderful time at the Expo even with the setbacks. It was just great to be able to experience the atmosphere that the Expo generated. I'm also happy to end the year with GLAY like I did four years ago. I'll be seeing them in Fukuoka the weekend before 2015 arrives. So, with that said, happy holidays~